Display device



March 12, 1940. w s WAGNER 2,193,502

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed Dec. 14, 1938 x f?! 42 a? A? I I 45 42 1 INVENTOR.Z'Z/affienilfliz new ATTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 12, 1940 a pa r-so srar m I trier. I

DISPLAY DEVICE Walter Wagner, Chicago, Ill, assignor to Wagner SignService, Incorporated, Chicago,

111., a corporation of Illinois Application December 14, 1938, SerialNo. 245,679

5 Claims. (01. ill-14.0)v

standing of the inventionand its objects and features. 1

Letters and characters or the like, in brief, objects such as notedabove which are to be displayed against a suitable background, may beequipped with peripheral flanges provided with inclined notches forengagement with and support on rods 01 wires or the like disposed infront of and in parallel with a: display panel. Channel members maybeused in placeof the rods 01' wires, and the letters or sign units may beequipped in this case with lugs or ledges extendfrom the top and bottommargins thereof for engagement with and support on the channel members.The display panel may be mounted on one side of a box containingilluminating means. The letters or characters form a desired message andappear against the panel in silhouette principles are disclosed in theUnited States Patents No; 2,048,040 issued to Erwin Wagner, July 21,1936, and No. 2,119,430, issued to F. F. Garner and G. A. Auer, May 31,1938. The rods, wires or, as the case may be, the channel members forsupporting the letters or characters are in these embodiments separatefrom and spaced from.

wires or rods of the former disclosures for supporting the letters orcharacters.

In all these structures the letters are held on their supporting meansby their own weight. The removal is accomplished simply by lifting aletter from engagement with its supports. ,A locking actionis to someextent-manifest in the unusual outside forces.

outline. Structures conforming to these letters having inclined,slightly tapering notches, as described in the previously mentionedPatent No. 2,048,040, the notches engaging the wires with a grippingaction, but this action is not positive, in the sense that it wouldinhibit or prevent an unauthorized removal or accidental displacement ofthe letter due to the play of unforeseen or No locking action whateveris manifest vin the letter structures having marginal top and bottomlug-like extensions, and

such letters or characters respond readily to wind striking the sign andrattle noticeably against their supporting means. I I

The present invention overcomes these draw backs. Each letter orcharacter unit'is provided with a simple lock comprising cam means forpositively holding it in its mounted display position. Unauthorizedremoval is thereby, for all practical purposes, prevented since anunlocking operation is required, and possibility of acciden- I indisplacement is likewise eliminated. Once the letter or character islocked in place in its displaypositiornit forms a unitary structure withgoing outline will now be described in detail with reference tothe'accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is'a fragmentary view of a signwith a letter providedwith the novel lock;

Fig. 2 shows a section along line 2-2 of Fig. 1, with the details of thelocking means on an enlarged scale; 7

Fig. 3 represents a section through a modified camstructure that may beemployed for the invention;

Fig. 4. illustrates a section similar tothe' one shown in Fig. 2, butshowing a differently con structed lock; and V Figs. 5 and 6 show afront view and a section,

respectiirely, of a modification for use with letters or charactershaving top and bottom mar-' ginal lug extensions instead of inclinednotches in the peripheral flanges.

The invention is illustrated inthe drawing,

Figs. 1-4, inclusive, as applied tosigns of the I general characterdisclosed in my previouslymentioned co-pending application, Ser. 7, No.213,603. The sign is equipped With a composite "in the face of theletter.

display panel comprising a number of strips, plates, or sectionalpanels, three of which are fragmentarily shown at H, 11., and I3. Theseplates or sectional panels may have a desired surface finish and aredisposed so as to form a substantially coextensive frontal planeconstituting the display surface of the sign. The upper edges of thepanels, for example, the panels 12 and !3, are bent forward out of theplane of the display surface to form carrier ledges l5 and Hi forsupporting letters or characters such as it or it. These details of thesign construction conform to the disclosure in my co-pending applicationwherein the carrier edges, such as l5 and iii, are shown as simplestraight edges extending horizontally along the display surface'and eachcovering up the lower edges, such as ii and it, of the adjacent panels.The upper forwardly inclined ledge 15 of the panel it thus covers thelower edge il' of the panel H, as shown in Figs.

1 and 2, and theupper forwardly inclined ledge 86 of the panel it coversthe lower edge iii of the panel l2, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Thespaces between the sectional panels are thus concealed from view.

The carrier ledges l5 and it of the present structure differ from thoseshown in the co-pending application in the provision of a locking edgeextending parallel to and below the carrier edge and constituting ameans against which the cam lock of this invention can. operate in anembodiment such as particularly illustrated in Fig. 2. It will be seenfrom this figure that the end of the ledge 55 is bent upon itself, asshown at 28; likewise the end of the ledge 56 (Fig. 4) is bent uponitself, as shown at 2!. Each ledge therefore has a straight uppercarrier edge, as shown at 22 and 23, and alcwer locking edge, asindicated at 2d and 25. The strip of material 219 and 2 I, which is-;-bent upon the corresponding inclined ledge H5 or it, is slightlyspaced from the latter, as shown in the drawing.

The lock for a letter or character may be constructed either inaccordance with the embodi- .rnent shown in Fig. 2 or with the oneillustrated in Fig. 4.

Referring first to the structurel igs. 1 and 2, the letter it which, forthe sake of convenience, is shown as the letter I, is provided with apeipheral flange indicated in 2 at 25, and in this flange are thetapering inclined notches such as 26 for cooperation with the upperledge I5, and similar inclined tapering notches for cooperation with thelower ledge it. The letter itself is equipped with a rotatable cam 2'!which is riveted or otherwise attached to the shank 28 of the shafthaving a shouldered central portion 23 surrounded by a spacer washer 3d.The countersunk head 32 of the shaft engages a countersunk opening Thishead may be provided with a hexagonal or square opening M for operativeengagement with a suitable key when it is intended to rotate theassemblage so as to actuate the cam 27. The opening in the cam forreceiving the shank portion 28 may have a suitable polygonal shape so asto secure a firm at tachment of the cam with the shank. The lock isshown in closed position, that is, with the edge of the cam 21? engagingthe locking edge M of the supporting means. The letter M is thussecurely locked in its mounted display position. The head 32 of the lockis substantially in the plane of the visual surface of the letter, andthe appearance of the letter is thus not marred in any way. The finishof the head of the lock may conform to the surface finish of the letter.

A cam member 33 such as shown in Fig. 3 may be used in place of the cammember 2'! shown in Fig. 2. The only difference appears in theconfiguration of the peripheral edge 34.. Whereas this edge is curvedso'as to provide an annular edge 35 which locks in back of the edge 2dof the supporting means, the cam 2'! has a straight edge which locks theletter merely by exerting an upward force against the carrier. Ifdesired, the profile of the cam may also be made concave.

The device so far described may also be used for locking letters such asdisclosed in the previously mentioned United States patent whereinseparate sup-porting means, such as rods, wires or bars and the like,are used in place of the integral panel ledges disclosed herein.Structural details of these references are not shown herein, in ordertoavoid unnecessary duplications. It is understood, however, that thereference structures are to be considered part of the invention to suchextent as may be required for explanatory purposes. I

The modification shown in Fig. 4 may be employed in lieu of that shownin. Fig. 2.- The letter it may be in every respect identical with theone shown at it in the previous figures. In fact, the section shown inFig. l may be a transverse section through the lower portion of theletter M shown in Fig. 1. In this case the locking device includes thecountersunk head 32 having the hexagonal or square opening 3| andextending rearwardly through a pair of Washers it and M which maybeprovided with suitable facing channels holding the spring 32. Theeccentrically journalled disc ti l constituting a cam is attached to thereduced shouldered portion of the shaft 43. Assuming that the letter I lis mounted in place with the locking device in the position in which itis shown in Fig. l, the end of the spring 42 snaps in back of the edge58 of the panel 52 and thus holds the letter against unauthorizedremoval. The cam member 434 may be similar to the cam member 2? shown inFig. 2. When it is desired to remove the letter M, the lock is rotatedby a suitable tool so as to rotate the cam into its alternate positionwhereby the spring 12 is pressed back and releases the letter fromlocking engagement with the lower edge E8 of the panel l2.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 5 "andG covers a sign structure whereinthe letters, for example, such as ili, are each. provided with apcripheral flange 56 and with marginal top and bottom lug-likeextensions i? and These extensions engage channel members it and 51 asexplainedin the previously noted patents, the channel members beingsecured on frame members such'as 5!, which lie in front of the displaypanel 52. The upper lug extension il may be provided with a centralopening 4 8'. The lock is similar to the lock already cescribed andcomprises 'a shouldered shank or shaft 53 and a countersunk head 56 inwhich disposed a square or hexagonal opening 55 for receiving suitabletool adapted to rotate the shaft 53. At

all embodiments a simple stamping having av straight peripheral edge. Amachined cam having a profile such as shown in Fig. 3 may be used wherenecessary. I

Changes and modifications may be made within the scope and spirit of theaccompanying claims, wherein I have defined what is considered new anddesired to have protected by Le"- ters Patent of the United States.

I claim as my invention:

1. A character for display against a panel, comprising a generallychannelshaped body having a frontal face and peripheral flangesextending rearwardly therefrom, downwardly inclined notches in saidflanges for mounting said character, a rotatable cam disposedsubstantially in alignment with the base of said notches, and means onthe face of said character'for rotat-' ing said cam relative to saidnotches.

2. In a sign, the combination of a supporting member with a characterremovably mounted thereon, comprising a cam member disposed in back ofthe face of said character for locking engagement with said supportingmember, and

means on the face of said character for operat ing said cam member. I

3. A character for display in front of a display surface, comprising agenerally channelshaped body having a frontal face and peripheralflanges rearwardly extending therefrom downwardly inclined notches insaid flanges for mounting said character, spring means mounted in backof said character, a rotatable cam'for actuating said spring means, andmeans on the face of said character for rotating said cam.

4. In a sign, the combination of 'a display panel with a character,removably mounted thereon, comprising a spring member disposed in backof said character for locking engagement with said panel, a cam-likemember for actuating said spring to release said locking engagement, andmeans on the face of said character for operating said cam-like member.

5. In a sign, a display panel, a pair of channel members disposed infront of said panel with the channels thereof facing each other, acharacter provided with luglike extensions at the top and the bottomthereof for insertion into said facing channels, a camlike lockingmember in back of said character for locking engagement with one of saidchannels, and means on the face of said character for actuating saidlooking member.

WALTER S. WAGNER.

